ChromeOS first impressions

As with anything new coming from Google, there has been a lot of expectation regarding the new Google “operating system” for PCs based on the Chrome browser.

Truth is that, as the mobile-devices-oriented Android, ChromeOS can be hardly called an Operating system but rather a Linux distribution.

ChromeOS’s concept is simple; remove absolutely everything from GNU/Linux that is not essential for browsing the internet. That lets ChromeOS boot quickly, in about 10 seconds, a bit more time than of Moblin or the tuned-up version of Fedora by Intel. Google Chrome has still a lot of glitches, but I’m sure they will fix’em all in time for production.

As soon as we boot ChromeOS we are prompted not for a user on the computer but for our Google account and password. On log-on you are presented with your gmail and calendar in the Chrome browser/interface.

It's the morning after the big Chrome OS event where Google executives and engineers revealed a myriad of details about the company's first attempt at creating their own operating system. The highly anticipated news conference was tracked all over the web, liveblogged by technology sites, and Twittered so much that it's still listed as a "trending topic" as of this morning.

But now that the news is out, has Chrome OS lost its shine? People had high expectations for Google's new operating system but the end result doesn't look like the revolutionary, "change the world" product many had hoped for.